Media players such as game consoles, computers, video players, and cellular telephones are usually capable of playing a number of media files such as movies, music and pictures stored in multiple formats. Media players and media files are usually created independent of one another, although with generic compatibility in mind. However, compliance with standards and specifications is not always sufficient to guarantee compatibility or the absence of defects. To guarantee accurate playback of media files on media players, some form of empirical testing may be necessary to detect any incompatibilities or defects in the media files and/or media players.
For quality assurance purposes, it is desirable for voluminous content service providers such as Microsoft Corporation to ensure that the many media files it serves to customers, e.g., through Internet accessible XBOX LIVE and XBOX LIVE Marketplace located at http://www.xbox.com, will playback properly on Microsoft's XBOX 360 gaming console or other supported media player. XBOX, XBOX 360, and XBOX LIVE are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Wash. 98052-6399. XBOX LIVE is a full spectrum online gaming and entertainment service. Besides providing online multiplayer gaming, through XBOX LIVE and XBOX LIVE Marketplace, customers can download purchased and promotional content to their XBOX 360 hard drive, computer or other media player, including high definition and standard definition television shows, movies, gaming videos, music videos, short feature films, video games, dashboard themes, slideshows, gamer pictures, game trailers/demos, movies, game content such as new maps, weapons, levels, characters, challenges, expansions, arcade games, demos and trailers. The thousands of media files available on XBOX LIVE may be produced by Microsoft and many other companies.
While human screeners may review playback of media files on various playback devices such as the XBOX 360, reliance on humans has inherent limitations, including physical and mental fatigue, forgetfulness, and inconsistency. For example, a human screener may doze off or otherwise fail to pay attention periodically during playback or may forget to pause playback during a break. Humans may also suffer eye strain while critically reviewing media file playback hours on end. Further, perceptions of playback may vary from one human to the next. Further still, time and budgetary constraints make it nearly impossible to review all media files, especially after every hardware, firmware or software improvement to playback devices. In short, as the volume of media content grows, it becomes more and more infeasible to manage content validity. Thus, at present, too much reliance on quality assurance is left to customer reporting.